This explored some challenges faced by women working in the Construction Industry (CI), by way of in-depth interviews & drawing on complexity theory to explore the complex, multi-layered issues.
First, existing literature was covered. The CI is perceived as masculine, hostile and dangerous – fostering a male dominant image. Up to 40% of women in CI admitted to being bullied or harassed; 30% too afraid to make a complaint; & 51% being treated poorly purely because of gender.
Some research suggested that gender discrimination was decreasing with more women in management/professional positions, although other work suggests this is focused at lower levels. Professional roles in CI are held 80% by men.
Interviews: One interviewee described CI largely as a male culture, which she didn’t feel part of. Further, she was explicitly told she was employed to “fill a quota”, leading to further feelings of inadequacy. Interviewees believed they were used as “token women” to showcase modern companies & were “always sent to public engagement events” (p2561).
Interviewees believed that the more senior they got, the worse treatment they received; particularly from “old men”. Some felt alienated by a perception that working through the ranks was more important vs qualifications/experience. That is, some felt that that there was a dismissive attitude towards their capabilities and qualifications if they hadn’t worked up from the ranks.
These sentiments were mostly directed at older male senior managers. In contrast, younger managers were seen to be more welcoming to both genders. Interviewees believed that the newer generation of men in CI saw women as equal and wanting to share the same senior spots as them.
Women believed that they were “overshadowed by male colleagues of similar positions as themselves” and even when matched on qualifications or experience or in employment status.
Interviewees believed women were generally less confrontational than men, leading to them being underestimated by men.
Interviewees believed that most poor treatment towards them was in the form of banter or assumed by perpetrators to be of “not much harm”. Sexual harassment was still around, but mostly masked in jovial comments; this did not seem to bother most interviewees, being brushed off as building site banter.
Interviewees felt a lot of pressure around family commitments, believing they had to choose between the two, and felt much pressure to prove themselves upon returning to work.
Some felt a lack of appreciation about sacrificing bonding with their babies by returning to work after a short period. Some research suggests most women leave the CI before even hitting the glass ceiling.
Authors suggested potential ways of moving forward. They suggest that existing theories like the glass ceiling and the leaky pipeline are still useful for exploring this issue, but a better more systematic theory/s is needed.
Authors: Aboagye-Nimo, E., Wood, H., & Collison, J. (2019). Engineering, construction and architectural management.
Study link: https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-09-2018-0421
Link to the LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/complexity-womens-modern-day-challenges-construction-ben-hutchinson
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